Hande Mutlu Durak

She works on turning original bioeconomy resources into biostimulants for agriculture. Her master’s thesis examined willow tree extracts as plant-based biostimulants; her doctoral thesis, completed in 2025, characterised extracts obtained from macroalgae by different methods and tested their biostimulant potential in soilless culture.

She has been a scholar on TÜBİTAK projects in the field, and leads a YÖK ADEP project on the potential of duckweed as a functional food and a biostimulant. Since her doctorate she has continued to work on plant biostimulants, sustainable plant nutrition and soilless farming.

Before joining the lab she was a scholar on a TÜBİTAK 1003 project that developed a rapid test for influenza A based on an IgY antibody (2015-2017).